Going Green

-Why Kratom is good for the environment

How I pity the original settler peasants who came and tilled this land before I did.

How I fear my disgorgement from the teet of civility – in other words, I am terrified of being separated from central heating, my microwave, and the nearest Wifi hotspot.

But oh, nature! How I yearn for thee. How softly upon her bosom do I lay in those warm summer nights, cooled by autumn breeze or cool river flow…!

Ok, guys, what I’m getting at here is the dissonance in which we all live; our intrinsic desire to be at one with nature, and how far we separate ourselves from some of her more unforgiving edges. But all that we have has come from the natural world; even the chips in our very unnatural computers come from stone and slate; the couches we lay on from fabric made of plants; and all we eat, harvest from fields afar. 

Yea, nature is cool as hell.

Kratom and the Environment

We often here, in tandem with celebrations of the natural world, our own involvement with her rapid decline. And even if some of us should choose not to believe that humans are damaging the environment, we can at least agree to look at single instances of, say, deforestation; the idea that humans remove natural areas of the world and replace it with farms or other centers of production.

It is under this idea that, on some level, I wondered if all methods of farming – especially when considering removing rainforest – were damaging. In fact, one rainy ‘eve whilst I capsuled my kratom, I looked at the powder before me and wondered if, indeed, my predilection for the Bali was in some way culpable for an alteration of our planet.

I was delighted to discover that kratom is perhaps one of the most sustainable, environmentally friendly methods of cultivation currently employed.

Go Green, Go Kratom

One of the central tenets behind the ‘Go Green’ movement is the idea of sustainability. Nature is a forgiving mistress but she has her limits for exploitation, be it by till or toil. So upon learning that kratom farming is eminently sustainable, and even beneficial, I was quite pleased to understand that I was supporting an industry that is a net positive on the environment.

Foremost is the structural demands of the industry itself; kratom is a tree which grows in South East Asia. This means that trees must be grown; not only grown, but sustained. Therefore, kratom trees create natural anchor points in the rainforests which populate Indonesia, Vietnam, and other countries in the Pacific Island chain. 

This actively prevents deforestation. The primary reasons for deforestation is the all-consuming greed which drives men to destroy their only home; but if reforestation is an impetus to create forest, then so shall man create. Thus, kratom farms, which can stretch out for acres, ensure that our arboreal overlords continue to provide the basis of life on earth. 

Such forestation is good for the soil as it supports organic cycles of nutrient uptake and dispensation. It ensures that sections of forest are protected and that no span of land will be devoid of tree life. It also provides sanctuaries for bird and other animal life which benefits from the protective canopy, who then return the favor by acting as impediments to pests which would damage the kratom farms. Furthermore, the rainforest undergrowth protected by the kratom plots means a wide range of foliage is protected within the plots of these kratom farms.

The Process of creating Kratom

The traditional processes of kratom farming are not only friendly to the environment, but the people who work them. As kratom expands as a commodity, farmers in South East Asia find themselves financially stable as exports grow. While I have not personally been on a tour of the Pacific Islands and seen for myself, it is widely reported that these kratom farms are run by families who pass their craft down through generations; supporting these small business models simply feels right. 

No mechanization is required – and rarely used – in harvesting kratom. It is done largely by hand, and produces no dangerous chemical waste or pesticidical damage (most suppliers test their kratom as a ‘trust but verify’ style insurance policy, but kratom is already a resilient plant and has survived and thrived for thousands of years without artificial human intervention.) No steam or oil is needed to produce the kratom crops, which are also seen as boons to local village communities who may find themselves otherwise being marginalized by the rapidly urbanizing economies emergent in many Southeast Asian countries. Thus, these farms can provide stability to entire villages and regions.

The process sees kratom leaves picked, dried, and ground down into powder (most Westerners seem to prefer powder, but many local kratom consumers actually enjoy chewing on the leaf). It is then sometimes steam cleaned, sun dried, or sanitized using another natural method, and then shipped away. 

In the same way that the American government subsidizes farms in a tacit recognition of their immense worth – and perhaps, American’s aversion to such manual labor – so too can we in the kratom community recognize the value of these kratom farmers who, in an environment uniquely suited to grow kratom, produce a product which helps millions of people across the world. Better yet is the environmentally stable – even productive – methods by which kratom is created. In every sense of the phrase, to enjoy kratom is to ‘go green’. 

It’s just another reason to love kratom.